There is a first for everything

I apparently just insulted a customer. She left all upset, practically pulling her daughter's arm out of her socket. She didn't tell me what I had said to upset her. She also didn't tell me she was upset. She told her daughter while right in front of me, which is terribly passive aggressive. I tried to apologize, I tried to tell her that if something I said upset her then it came out wrong, I tried to assure her that I meant no disrespect. Not because I cared about making the sale. But because I meant every word. I'm still not sure what I said, but whatever it was, she took it wrong. For the record, she came in an immediately started being argumentative. It is really annoying when people tell you to show them something, and then argue with you about everything you pull down for them. Like her for example. She wanted a shirt for her daughter that was casual. That was all she said. "Can you show me something long sleeve or 3/4 sleeve that is casual." And so I did. The first thing I directed her to was a 3/4 sleeve cotton basic shirt that we have in 9 colors and everyone loves. That is typically a good starting point because I don't have to worry about style preferences because it's a basic shirt with nothing on it. She didn't like it because it was too heavy. ?? Ok lady. It's a cotton t-shirt. You don't get much lighter than that without it being see-thru, which I have a feeling wasn't the look she was going for, for her daughter who looked about 9. But alright. I showed her a few other things, and she found faults with them. Half the things she literally ignored as I tried to show her. While I was in the middle of saying something, she interrupted me with, "Well how about skirts then?" oook. So I show her some skirts. The first one she ignores. The second one she likes. Her daughter tries it on, and it looks really nice. Then the daughter asks if she can get a denim skirt. So she replied that the daughter can look, but she probably won't like any of them. The girl pulls one out and the mom says it will be too short. I piped in that it probably would be long enough for her because the girl only comes to my chest, and that skirt is long enough for me. I was just trying to help, you understand. It can be hard to eyeball lengths sometimes. I can't tell you how many times someone has said "that will be too short" and then I hold it up to myself and they see how long it really is. Anyhow. Then the mom pulls out another skirt that is longer. I tried helping her out with the size, and I think that is when she got annoyed. In general I didn't think the skirt would work for her daughter because she still has a little girls body, and that skirt was made for someone with hips. It would have all this extra room in the hip area and look silly. So I was trying to guide her toward the size that would work best. She argued with me. I'm not about to argue with a customer so I said, "Ok, well she can always try on another size if the first one doesn't work." I said it with a lighthearted tone. I'm thinking she took that to mean that obviously she would be wrong or something. About five minutes later she told her daughter to change and that she felt disrespected. I immediately started telling her I was sorry if I'd said something to offend her. I must have apologized 15 different ways, but she would barely look at me. But whatever. I can't stress on every customer that comes in with an attitude. This is retail. At least 50% of the people who come in here treat us like crap. So if I've only driven one person to walk out in a huff in over three years I'm still doing OK.